Research

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Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 has rated 84% of Cass Business School
research as either "world leading" (4*) or "internationally excellent" (3*)

Whilst acknowledging that women are often confined to lower paid or
marginalised positions, this paper uses qualitative data collected in five
corporate law firms in the City of London to question the motives for women's
disadvantage and the mechanisms by which it is achieved.

We argue for an integrative perspective on organizing professionals, one
which focuses on the dynamic interplay between the professional service firm
and the contending, and sometimes conflicting, perspectives presented by the
profession, professionals, and their clients.

The current working paper argues that these dichotomized models ignore the
variety of forms of governance prevalent within the professional service firm
sector- in reality a professional service firm will adopt multiple forms of
governance over time in response to its increasing scale and complexity.

Professional service firms hold a particular significance for organisational
scholars. This is partly to do with the critical position that they occupy in
the economic, social, and political realms, and partly because any developments
in professional service firms can have far-reaching implications for the study
of organisations more generally.

The word 'professional' is often used rather loosely: the lay person will as
easily apply it to footballers, actors, and hairdressers as to lawyers and
accountants. In the altogether more precise language of academics it is still a
highly contested term - as, by extension, is the expression professional
service firm (PSF).

Mergers and acquisitions are supposed to create value. For professional
service firms (PSFs), which are knowledge-based organizations, this value is
created through gaining access to and making effective use of new sources of
knowledge. It can be the technical knowledge needed to deliver a professional
service or the client knowledge required to tailor that service to a client's
needs - and ideally it should be both.